Back at the rink

Try, try again!

Mom found Levynn a pair of ice skates at a consignment store for less than the cost of a rental the other day. So we went back to the Millenium Park rink yesterday - it closes March 14 - and a combination of Lev's recent experience, double rather than single blades on the new skates, and Dad's own comfort level on the ice resulted in Lev falling just twice!

Showtime!

Mom and Levynn, our own little ballerina, attended the final show of The Joffrey Ballet's "Cinderella" this afternoon. And that funny girl came home dancing not as Cinderella - but as a jester! But at least she came home dancing, right?

Lincoln's field trip

Mom joined Levynn on a school field trip to Shedd Aquarium recently, and Dad decided to get Lincoln there, too, when it was free today. He wasn't 2 yet the last time he was there. So it was much more interesting to him today.

Ice queens

Levynn has been enjoying a five-day winter break from school. You've seen the sledding, and we also went to the Museum of Science and Industry. But she finished it in style today with her first ice skating adventure.

She and Mom - a novice herself - strapped on rented skates and braved the crowd on Millenium Park's little oval, and they had a lot of fun. See for yourself with this video compilation.



Dad's got next.

A sledding hill!

As a lot of snow fell over the last two days, we told the kids we'd go sledding after school today - without knowing where we would do that!

After our last large snowfall, Dad just pulled the kids around the flat park across the street. But we were looking for more, without having to travel far on a bus to get to one of the noted sledding hills in the city. One familiar location, behind the outdoor farmer's market where we've shopped, finally occurred to us this afternoon. Just in time!


Poor Lincoln was traumatized on the initial establish-a-path plunge, when he sat in front of Levynn and Mom and took the brunt of the snow that piled into the sled. So you can understand his reaction here.

He preferred to walk through the snow after that.



But Levynn loved it!

Making Valentines

Lincoln got a haircut!

Self-portrait

Levynn spent a lot of time today, including a program at The Art Institute, with the daughter of one of Mom's co-workers. Here is her finished art project, a self-portrait collage that looks like something Picasso would have made.

She finished it!

And then she immediately started reading the next book in the series.

This is ridiculous

Wonderfully, momentously, ridiculous!

Five-year-old kindergarten students don't read Little House books all by themselves! Right? Wrong!